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11.03.2011

NAT NESTS: THE KITCHEN'S MAIDEN VOYAGE

on sunday we had the missionaries over for dinner. i'd signed up on their calendar back in september with my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that we'd be in our new place by october 30th (at that point we were still on track to get in by october 1st, haaaaaa). as a general rule i don't invite people over for dinner if i'm not at least going to pretend to cook part of the dinner myself, and also as a general rule i don't normally invite the missionaries over for dinner, and so it was a bit of a gamble. would we have a kitchen by then? if so, would i remember how to heat a pan on the stove without burning things down? if not, would they turn us in if we tried to take them out for pizza on a sunday?

by the time the 30th rolled around we'd been in our new place a total of 36 hours. just under the wire! boxes were completely unpacked by then because it turns out fifteen boxes of stuff isn't all that hard to find homes for.

and so. the night before, i surveyed my palace. i took stock of our pantry. i remembered i had a knife somewhere. where was it? um, can opener? right.

the dish i chose to be my kitchen's maiden voyage was pumpkin sage pasta, one of our favorites. it's really good with sliced chicken sausage on top, if you're into it.

Pumpkin Sage Pasta

3 Tbs Olive Oil

3 Tbs Butter

2 Cloves Garlic, Diced

8 Leaves Fresh Sage, Chopped

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

1 Cup Reserved Pasta Water

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Red Pepper Flakes To Taste

Four Handfuls Whole Wheat Pasta

Parmesan To Taste

1. Sautee garlic and sage in olive oil and butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

2. Add pumpkin and pasta water.

3. Whisk together until combined. Add more pasta water if sauce is too thick, more pumpkin if too thin.

I feel your pain, Nat! My family always makes jokes about how I can't cook. In reality, I'm not so bad. Maybe I even let them think I can't cook so that I can sleep in longer on Thanksgiving. All I'm saying is your Holbsie should be careful whose cooking he criticizes, you know?

ugh i have to re-do my kitchen soon...and good job on the cooking! i, too, find it difficult to cook more often than not (especially because there's always this cute baby on the floor that needs playing with)!Smoking Crayolas Blogspot

take out is very expensive in australia, and stores dont have the range of pre prepared food you guys have (we do have pasta sauce though ;) so I was totally envious of your no cooking for a year... hmmmmmm I cook every single night..... bout time for a break....

oh and I wanted to add.. have the missionaries over for breakfast! My husband has been bishop or bishopric or some callling/employment where he is never home.. therefore the missionaries can never come over (no man in the house ;)

so he started having the missionaries over for breakfast once every second week to also have a meeting with them from 6:30am- 7:30/8am It was so easy and so fun and always gave our house an awesome spirit/feeling start to the day.

so I still prefer to have them over for breakfast - we usually do fruit salad and yoghurt, a few types of cereal or oats in winter and if I'm feeling adventurous bacon and egg muffins.

This sounds SO GOOD. Never would have thought of pumpkin and sage. I'm going to try it soon, maybe my pumpkin-hating husband will try it. If not, more for me!Also: YAY YAY YAY for a kitchen big enough for cooking!